What an idiot

Have you heard about the guy that's sitting on his roof to protest his wife bringing their two year old and infant into the master bedroom?

He wants his space. He wants his room back. He doesn't want diapers and kid clutter in his room.

What a tantruming brat, I say.

There is nothing in our present culture to grow men up until they have children of their own.

The result? A very large, tantruming child on the roof of his house.

And the media's attention, of course.

But, because the societal standard has increasingly become one of selfishness, this schmuck is getting *support* from many in the general public.

I wonder, does he do much around the house? Perhaps pick up and wash a dirty diaper? Gently parent a child to sleep? Cook? Does he even wipe his own dirty ass?

Somehow, I believe his wife is missing very little by having Homer J. up there on the roof.

Of course, this is the same type of male appendage that protests his wife breastfeeding because, after all, those are *his* breasts. He misses intimacy with his wife, do you think you're going to get any action by embarassing her on national television?

You DO realize that small children outgrow their need to be close with their mother. Give it another couple of years and you would have your room and your wife's body back for yourself. But instead of working together as two selfless *adults*, you chose to behave like a selfish spoiled child. Instead of deeping your relationship by parenting your children, the fruit of your love with your dear wife, you have plopped your broad ass on the rooftop and made a fool of yourself.

What an idiot.

I'm glad I'm married to an adult who doesn't feel the need to compete with my infant children for my love and attention.

Update: our genius on the rooftop happens to be a registered sex offender, imagine that!!
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060331/NEWS11/60331006

Making of a Man

Making a Man

My oldest three children are girls and seeing girls transform into women isn’t particularly mystifying because I, as a woman, have personally gone through that process. How a rowdy boy morphs into a man is completely mysterious to my female mind and the prospect of seeing a son though the turbulent teenaged years was something of a daunting prospect.

It’s funny how G-d makes the most of every opportunity and the scripture that G-d works all things for good for those who love Him has, once again, proven itself to be true.

I really cannot complain about Jonathan. He’s a normal teenager. He had a couple of brushes with stupidity when he was fourteen, nothing that would put him behind bars, but enough trouble to warrant the, “You are old enough to screw up your life,” speech from his father and me.
I have a theory that the teen years from thirteen until sixteen are a struggle for most kids, but the teen years from sixteen until college and beyond are sweet reward for the hard work of laying the foundation in earlier years. When he was fifteen, Jonathan started saving for his own car. He started caddying in the local country club and advanced to working in the local garden center. He also did landscaping for side work. His Brother-in-law’s little brother was selling a late model BMW. Jay was to be trusted because he was Kevin’s little brother and because he was anal retentive about his cars. Jonathan spent nearly two years saving his money to buy that sweet ride.
Jonathan turned sixteen; he passed his driver’s test that summer (summer of 2004,) and at the end of the summer was able to go purchase the BMW. The following day was the first day of school.

The very next day, Jonathan lost control of the car in a rainstorm and slammed it into a guard rail, basically totaling the car. Jonathan only had liability insurance on his car and ended up with a total loss. My heart was sick when I went to pick him up at the accident scene. If I had the money, I would likely have paid to have the poor car repaired. I had no words of comfort for Jon, merely words of sorrow at his loss and love for him as his mother.
I prayed for G-d to use this situation for the good, not knowing the intricate pattern woven by unseen hands.

A few days later, Jonathan’s older sister, Jessica, gave him her Jetta. I thought Jessica was about to buy herself another car but she didn’t, Jessica sacrificially gave Jon her car, leaving her with the Harley and Band Van. Over the next several months, I quietly observed Jon transform from a restless boy into a man. He became thoughtful and studious. He has gone out of his way to be communicative and considerate of Pat and me as well as the rest of our family. It takes everything in my power to keep a straight face as he corrects his brothers’ table manners. He is getting recruitment letters from impressive schools and he scored a 95 percentile in the ASVAB’s.

I believe having Jessica demonstrate a sort of sacrificial love toward him was a catalyst for Jon to stretch and grow. He thinks of himself as part of a team, whether it is the football team at school, the sound-team at church, or part of our family, he has lost that selfishness so characteristic of young teenaged children and taken up the mantle of being part of something larger than the self. He is talking about being an officer in the Marines and I give him the, “I didn’t give birth to you and nurse you and sacrifice for you to have your ass shot off because some terrorist got lucky,” but I would be proud of him in spite of being worried about his safety.

It's funny how things work out, several months after Jessica gave Jonathan her Jetta, she was able to buy a very sweet BMW for a song. It's a pretty green with brown leather seats. It's in great mechanical shape as well, the Jetta has been hanging in there for the past two years, Jessica had cautioned Jonathan that the Jetta didn't owe anyone anything, but it has been there over these past two years.

G-d works all things for the good for those who love Him. I would have done anything to spare Jonathan that accident, but it turns out, the accident was a blessing in disguise.

Better to have a millstone tied around your neck and thrown into the depths of the sea

Than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

This story has grieved my heart,

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/418676.html


I hope it is a warning shot across our collective bows to seriously consider why we tolerate people who teach child abuse in the name of our loving G-d.

Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone tied around our necks and cast into the depths of the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble but, instead of a gentle parenting philosophy, Christians have produced some of the most draconian parenting books. The Ezzos, Dobson, The Pearls (material for the above article) are the most punitive writers I have encountered in my research into the world of parenting gurus.

The following thoughts are from my friend, Rebecca Prewett,

http://www.fix.net/~rprewett/millstones.html

More on the excesses of authoritarian and isolationists

http://www.equip.org/free/DF230.htm

Why I don't tithe

Sigh,Our pastor taught about tithing, he does this about once every two years or so.I don't tithe and I don't feel bad about not tithing but my dh has more guilt about it and would likely tithe if I wasn't so opposed to the notion.Why, you might ask, would a crunchy-ish Christian woman be opposed (adamently opposed) to the tithing, particularly the Malachai verses being used to *guilt* people into tithing?Well, let me tell you a personal story about us. We have been in just about every income bracket. We started off painfully poor. We were married and had children ad a very young age. When DD #1 was 3, and DD #1 was 1, we became Christians. We were taught that if we didn't give 10% of our income to the Church, we were "robbing G-d."We were so poor, we didn't have enough to eat of put a decent roof over our heads, and forget about doctors or dentist visits, we made about $10,000/year and we gave 10% of it to our damned Church.We went to another church, the infamous Ezzofied legalistic church (the other one was just about as legalistic,) and we got an even stronger pro-tithe, "if you don't tithe, you're robbing G-d" message from these schmucks.I couldn't afford to take my children to the doctor, I had my children's teeth literally *abcessed* but we dutifully gave 10% of our money to this damned church. DH worked 60+ hour weeks and we were still poor (making about $30,000/year with six children in an expensive geographic location) and we *still* tithed.We tithed to that damned church until they *kicked* us out, gave us crap, and we stopped.This business became part of an article about the Ezzos and turmoil within the church and they claimed they kicked us out because we didn't attend, but we proved we attended. Regularly. Because we had a record of that damned tithe every time we were paid, we paid them the tithe.So, back to the Malachai verse that tells people to test G-d, HA!!!Test G-d, like it's a good idea to put the L-rd to the test.I stopped tithing, stopped giving alltogether for a long time and, guess what happened?Our finances were blessed.And blessed and blessed, we make over triple what we made when we dutifully tithed.What have I learned?Everything EVERY LITTLE THING we have belongs to G-d and comes *from* G-d.G-d Himself has blessed our family with eight beautiful intelligent children and He has also blessed our finances so, primarily, we can take care of our *children*My children go to the dentist. They go to the doctor, they all get glasses if they need them.I am able to give them money for class trips and a new pair of jeans (imagine that, we look like people who have a Father who can take care of His children!!!)It isn't as though we *don't* give, we do give but it is a *gift* not a legalistic tithe. If you measure by our *taxible* income, we do actually tithe, but that wouldn't be good enough for the legalistic people. It's amazing to me how normally grace-oriented people morph into legalistists with regard to this one issue.No, I would rather be prosperous and take care of my own children than to be faithfully tithing to a bloated church whilst my children suffer in pain from abcessed teeth and inadequate housing/clothing/transportation/education/etc.etc.etc.Debra Baker